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■ Nikolai Baev demonstrating
yesterday in Ryazan shortly before he was arrested
along with another activist.photo courtesy GayRussia

MOSCOW, March 31, 2009 (GayRussia.ru) – Two organisers
of Moscow Gay Pride were arrested yesterday by police in Ryazan, a city
located 200 km southeast of Moscow.

Nikolai Baev and Irina Fet were detained in the city
centre and charged with “propaganda of homosexuality to minors”, an offence
that carries a fine.

The two were later released from custody on the promise
that they would appear in Court.

This morning, they appeared in court which adjourned the
case for a week for the police papers to be studied.

Nikolai Baev and Irina Fet were part of a group of four
activists – including Nikolai Alekseev and a local activist from Ryazan.

They were carrying several banners in the city centre,
close to a school and a library when the police made the arrests.

“In many other countries, homosexuality is explained at
schools. In Russia it’s different,” Irina Fet said this morning.

The activists aimed to denounce a law on ‘administrative’
offences in force in the Russian region of Ryazan since 2006 that forbids
the propaganda of homosexuality to minors.

Ryazan region is one of the regions that compose the
Russian Federation – and each region can have its own laws provided none of
them breach the Russian Constitution.

It is the only region of Russia which has a law
explicitly banning propaganda of homosexuality.

The activists claim that the law against “propaganda of
homosexuality to minors”, which forbids any discussion of homosexuality with
children, is unconstitutional.

“We came here to denounce a law which is not only
homophobic but which is also against the Constitution of this country,” said
Nikolai Alekseev.

“This action was a necessary step to appeal the
cancellation of this law to the Constitutional Court.

“We are giving a strong signal to other regions as well
as federal authorities which plan to follow the same path,” he added.

Last year, the activists managed to obtain from the
Ministry of Health the end of the ban on blood donation by gays – a result
that is seen as the first success for LGBT rights in Russia since the
decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1993.

Their campaign for Freedom of Assembly in Russia has been
going on for four years, with 168 banned gay marches appealed to European
Court of Human Rights and the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.